After seven levels of play on the second starting day of the PokerStars.netAsia Pacific Poker Tour Melbourne Main Event, Ted Nguyen emerged as the chip leader with 144,425. Entering Day 1b, 159 players created a 257-player field. Many pros were in attendance on Friday, but many did not advance to Saturday's Day 2.

Team PokerStars was well-represented on Day 1b with four players competing. Unfortunately, though, cards didn't go their way for the most part. Bryan Huang was among the early exits after getting involved in a crazy hand. The long-time professional min-raised preflop to 400 and Vineet Jindal made a huge three-bet to 6,000. The action came back to Huang who four-bet to 15,000. Jindal called, and the flop brought out . Huang moved all in for about11,000 chips and Jindal called with a pair of tens. Huang had and needed to dodge a ten and running spades. But the river brought a ten, and Jindal grabbed hold of a big stack early.

Jindal also ended Team PokerStars Pro Angel Guillen's tournament in Level 6. Guillen had flopped a set and on the turn got his chips into the pot against Jindal's flopped nut flush. The board brought no help for Guillen, who headed for the exit.

Others who didn't survive the day were Jonathan Karamalikis, Lee Nelson and Irishman John O'Shea. Milan Gurung knocked out Nelson, who got his money in drawing dead. Gurung had flopped a flush, and money went in on the turn. Nelson mucked his cards upon seeing Gurung's flush, and the Australian Poker Hall of Famer made a quiet exit.

Many notables did survive Day 1b, though. David Gorr, the 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event champion, will come back Saturday with 33,075, while WSOPE bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen bagged up 37,250. Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin will have her work cut out for her as she made Day 2 with 27,850.

The 106 players who survived Day 1b will return to play another day of poker on Day 2. Combined with Day 1a’s survivors there are still 168 players remaining. The final table will be played on Monday when another APPT champion will be crowned. Shown below are the top ten chip stacks heading into Day 2. As you can see, six players managed to accumulate a larger stack than the Day 1a chip leader Brendon Rubie.

APPT Melbourne Top 10 Chip Counts

Place

Name

Chips

1

Ted Nguyen

144,425

2

Phi Long Luu

134,025

3

Vineet Jindal

123,200

4

Tam Truong

119,500

5

Martin Comer

116,300

6

Jai Kemp

109,425

7

Brendon Rubie

103,575

8

Michael Kanaan

96,675

9

Ismail Ismail

94,275

10

Phillip Siddell

94,000

Day 2 is set to begin in the Crown Poker Room at 12:30 AEST Saturday (19:30 PST), so make sure to follow the PokerNews Live Reporting Page as we continue to bring you all the action from the 2012 APPT Melbourne Main Event!

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